Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-19
A VOUD0O DOCTOR.
HIS QUEER OFFICE IN A THOMP-
 SON STREET ROOkERY.

HIS QUEER OFFICE IN A THOMP-
 SON STREET ROOkERY.
 Hc Sells His Negro Dupes Love Potions
 and Curealls-Singular ImpI essions Cre-
 ated by the Chances of the Doctors
 "Bad Eye"
 I got an intelligent young colored man who has had most of the superstitious fancies knocked out of him to go with friend who was known to the doctor and tell ne what he saw there. This was his story. After the two men had knocked at the garret door a long time the old doctor opened it about an inch and stood there staring at them with one eye distrustfully. It was big bright eye that seemed in the darkness of the land ing to glare like tho headlight of O locomo- tive. The young negro confessed afterward that it made him 'goose flesh" all over. His companion, who had not his advantages of early education and firmly believed in the old mans power, was shaking from head to foot with terror. The old man finally flung the door open and invited them in He was dressed in a long black robe that had mysterious red crosses sewed on it. His hair was very white. There was some reason for the singular impression his eye had made on his visitors while they were outside the door, because by strange deformity the fiery eye lay almost on the cheek. His hands were skinny, his frame was bent, and his face cadavcrous Bob, my young colored friend, says that the den into which he led them was enough to strike terror into the stoutest man in the Fourth ward It contained two alligators and several snakes, all stuffed, but apparently crawling about on the floor. In tank were a lot of lizards. A big black cat walked un- easily about. A hideous carved figure that looked something like a wooden realization of the devil stood in one corner The place was very dark and dirty. Across one end was curtain with round hole in it, through which, it was evident, the doctor was accustomed to glare at his patients with that awful eye Strings of herbs and round black balls swung from the ceiling.
 The doctor shut the door after them and locked it and then, stepping around behind his curtain, put his eye to the hole and asked them, ill a voice that was evidently meant to be terrifying, what they wanted. Bobs com panion finally managed to blurt out that he wanted to be cured of the rheumatism, and Bob wanted a love powder. Tho doctor took his eye away from the hole and began to stir about behind the curtain apparently dancing and droning weird tune. Bob's companion said: "Oh, Lord!" and wanted to cut and run. Bob had an idea that he could distinguish some signs of "Old Hundred" about the tune, and when he caught sight of the old mans face it looked more cunning than devilish, and so he decided to stay. The doctor came out from behind the curtain after a while. i'll one hand holding a cup of black powder and in the other cup of white DOW der. He put them down in the middle of the floor and kneeling beside them began to pass his hand over them rapidly, jabbering all ths time. He stirred something into the black powder every now and then and took a stealthy glance at his visitors out of his lurid eye to see what effect the performance was having on them. Finally, he arose and taking some of the powder scattered it over the rheumatic patient to his unspeakable ter ror Then he took the rest and putting it into clam shell marked with fantastic de- vices gave it to his visitor.
 "At midnight in the dark of the moon. you must hold the black cat with one hand, and swallow from this clanshell three times and be we'll"
 Bob said he said this like man speaking in a well. The old man took the white DOW der and put it into another clamshell and gave it to Bob. "Let the maiden you love taste of this and she will be yours,' said the old man, land now give me your silver and depart in peace."
 It took $2 head to pass them out, and Bob said his companion was ready to faint when he turned around on the stairs and saw the bulging eye looking at them stead fastly through the crack in the door, When they got outside Bob tasted his love powder and found it as good powdered sugar as ever a grocer sold. Nothing could induce the rheumatic patient to taste the compound in his clam shell, or even to look at it. But he told Bob how it was prob ably made. He said that the old man goes over to Jersey every Friday and hunts around among the farmers of the Hackensack until he finds two black chickens marked nearly alike. Ho talzos thoe<, Ior,,u and cuts them up for medicine. The hearts he sticks full of black pins, and hangs up to dry. The livers are baked until they arc hard, and then powdered. When the hearts are perfectly dry the old man sells them for charms to hang about the neck. He gets S5 apiece for them. Tho chicken liver is his principal medicine. When he has endowed it with miraculous powers by his arts, it is capable of healing any disease, so the negroes believe. The old man was careful to get just the right kind of chickens, or the charm would be lost. They must be jet black, and of just such age and form, or the s'voudoo" was of no use.-"C. B. R." in New York Commercial Advertiser.